Teachers describe complaints to Crist

BY BILL KACZORTHE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Published: Wednesday, May 9, 2007 at 6:30 a.m.

Last Modified: Wednesday, May 9, 2007 at 12:00 a.m.

TALLAHASSEE - Fifteen teachers from across Florida met Tuesday with Gov. Charlie Crist to outline the challenges they are facing including excessive testing, unrealistic goals, poor leadership and high turnover among faculty and principals.
The governor listened sympathetically and praised the teachers for their dedication during one of his "Tallahassee Tuesday" sessions with ordinary citizens at the Governor's Mansion.
"I want to adjust whatever it is we're doing to help you help those kids," Crist told the teachers.
The governor said he still wanted to maintain high standards for Florida's public school students but acknowledged, "You have to sort of hit the sweet spot where it's not so high it's out of range and it creates defeatism."
Crist made that comment after teachers from schools with high percentages of students who have learning disabilities or don't speak English as a first language told him it's unfair to expect them to compete with other schools.
"You can work with them and try and try and do everything you can and everything they can, but they're never going to be able to read at grade level," said Michele Futch, a special education teacher at Blountstown Middle School. "It's heartbreaking."
Fellsmere Elementary School, where Brooke Flood is a resource coach and math coordinator, has 300 students for whom English is a second language. Flood said studies show it takes seven years to learn a new language, yet third-graders are expected to pass the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test with only three or four years of exposure to English.
If they fail the FCAT reading test, they are retained. Flood said tears flow when she tells pupils they must spend another year in third grade.
"It is the most difficult, difficult time for a third grader, especially when they've been retained before," she said.
Teachers said their problems with testing go beyond the high-stakes FCAT, which the state uses to grade them, their students and their schools. Some schools are giving students additional accountability and assessment tests as frequently as every two weeks.
"You're so involved in this constant testing that you don't have time to teach what you're supposed to be teaching," said Alden Cooper, a social studies teacher at Dunnellon Middle School. "You are caught up in the process of testing, remediating, retesting."
Crist asked if lengthening the school year, now 180 teaching days, would help. Cooper replied that it's not the amount of time but the quality of education that matters.
Eleanor Harrington, a literacy coach at Kenwood Elementary School in Fort Walton Beach, told Crist the FCAT ought to be given at the start of the school year rather than in February and March.
Teachers then could use the results to determine where their students need to improve and teach accordingly.
"You have information to drive your instruction," Harrington said. "You are not teaching to the test any more because you're teaching from the test."
Teachers also complained of annual turnover rates of up to 30 percent and principals who stay only one or two years.
Rachel Peregoy said teachers are paid a $7,500 to transfer to low-performing Glades Central High School in Belle Glade where she teaches math, but they have no incentive to stay a second year. She said, though, she has been there for 10 years because "it would weigh on my conscience to walk away."
The teachers told Crist studies show lack of support from principals and other administrators is the main reason why teachers quit. Chip Leonard, a technology teacher at Wolfson High School in Jacksonville, said principals too often must be "crisis managers" rather than instructional leaders.
Crist told the teachers, "I want to do everything I can as your governor to help you stay on mission."

TALLAHASSEE - Fifteen teachers from across Florida met Tuesday with Gov. Charlie Crist to outline the challenges they are facing including excessive testing, unrealistic goals, poor leadership and high turnover among faculty and principals.<BR>
The governor listened sympathetically and praised the teachers for their dedication during one of his "Tallahassee Tuesday" sessions with ordinary citizens at the Governor's Mansion.<BR>
"I want to adjust whatever it is we're doing to help you help those kids," Crist told the teachers.<BR>
The governor said he still wanted to maintain high standards for Florida's public school students but acknowledged, "You have to sort of hit the sweet spot where it's not so high it's out of range and it creates defeatism."<BR>
Crist made that comment after teachers from schools with high percentages of students who have learning disabilities or don't speak English as a first language told him it's unfair to expect them to compete with other schools.<BR>
"You can work with them and try and try and do everything you can and everything they can, but they're never going to be able to read at grade level," said Michele Futch, a special education teacher at Blountstown Middle School. "It's heartbreaking."<BR>
Fellsmere Elementary School, where Brooke Flood is a resource coach and math coordinator, has 300 students for whom English is a second language. Flood said studies show it takes seven years to learn a new language, yet third-graders are expected to pass the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test with only three or four years of exposure to English.<BR>
If they fail the FCAT reading test, they are retained. Flood said tears flow when she tells pupils they must spend another year in third grade.<BR>
"It is the most difficult, difficult time for a third grader, especially when they've been retained before," she said.<BR>
Teachers said their problems with testing go beyond the high-stakes FCAT, which the state uses to grade them, their students and their schools. Some schools are giving students additional accountability and assessment tests as frequently as every two weeks.<BR>
"You're so involved in this constant testing that you don't have time to teach what you're supposed to be teaching," said Alden Cooper, a social studies teacher at Dunnellon Middle School. "You are caught up in the process of testing, remediating, retesting."<BR>
Crist asked if lengthening the school year, now 180 teaching days, would help. Cooper replied that it's not the amount of time but the quality of education that matters.<BR>
Eleanor Harrington, a literacy coach at Kenwood Elementary School in Fort Walton Beach, told Crist the FCAT ought to be given at the start of the school year rather than in February and March.<BR>
Teachers then could use the results to determine where their students need to improve and teach accordingly.<BR>
"You have information to drive your instruction," Harrington said. "You are not teaching to the test any more because you're teaching from the test."<BR>
Teachers also complained of annual turnover rates of up to 30 percent and principals who stay only one or two years.<BR>
Rachel Peregoy said teachers are paid a $7,500 to transfer to low-performing Glades Central High School in Belle Glade where she teaches math, but they have no incentive to stay a second year. She said, though, she has been there for 10 years because "it would weigh on my conscience to walk away."<BR>
The teachers told Crist studies show lack of support from principals and other administrators is the main reason why teachers quit. Chip Leonard, a technology teacher at Wolfson High School in Jacksonville, said principals too often must be "crisis managers" rather than instructional leaders.<BR>
Crist told the teachers, "I want to do everything I can as your governor to help you stay on mission."<BR>